Genesis II: The Monastery and Torm
Instead of bringing the Janastone back to Argus, however, the four brought it to the monastery on Jana's Peak. On the way, they met with Nel Stormeyes, a Qashra from Noctis who accidentally ended up in Equis with his tribe, but became separated from them. Nel traveled with the group to the monastery, where the Janastone was used as payment to Stenbruk to allow them entry, mainly so that they could gain access to their infamously well-stocked library (?). While speaking with Stenbruk, the old priest suddenly had a series of three visions, concerning a brewing catastrophe to happen in three months, and gave three locations: # Upon the new home of Jana # In the Land of Green Sand # On the Cerulean Sea It was, however, never clarified what any of these meant, and Stenbruk had no recollection of his visions after the fact. He did, however, manage to point Tahl in the right direction on his quest to revive the Firstborn God: an ancient tome, the Renascentia Arcanum, containing knowledge on the birth and death of gods. Approximately half of the tome was in the library, and was given to Tahl. Stenbruk then mentioned that more of it could be found in Torm, and so the rest of the group decided to join him in searching for it. The group rode to the checkpoint on the border of Jana's Peak and Torm, where they were refused entry, but forced their way in anyway with the help of a traveling soldier from Tahl and Leander's past, a soldier once in Karlak Warking's army named Stelios Kontos. Leander interrogated the "champion" there, an inquisitor wielding fire magic, to learn more about Torm IV, Torm's current Holy General (ruler). They continued riding all the way to the capital city of Torm, on the way encountering a burning farm belonging victims of Torm's harsh taxation laws. There, the party met the ice mage Xenovitus, drawn by his interest in the magic used by the inquisitors of Torm to burn the farm. Together, they attempted (in vain) to save the farm, and confronted the inquisitor who led the burning. Lantis destroyed his face with a grenade before they attempted to flee for the city. Lantis and Tahl became separated from the others at this time, ending up lost in the forest and nearly devoured by wolves. Even when they rejoined the others, they still managed to get off course and were forced to stop briefly to rest at an old, frozen ruin of some sort, where they discovered a resonance shard of ice magic. At the gates of the city, they were taken into custody for questioning, but broke out with the use of copious amounts of High Arcane magic, including the resonance shard. Such magic was considered supreme heresy in the second degree under the tenets of Tormism, and thus very illegal. They were attacked by dozens of guards and inquisitors before finally surrendering, but not before plunging a large chunk of the city into ice or destroying it with searing light. Tahl, Xenovitus, and Eldrin were captured, while Lantis fled into the sewers. Meanwhile, Leander and Nel had gotten into the city safely, and hatched a plan to rescue Tahl, which boiled down to attacking the inquisitors from both sides while they crossed a bridge with Tahl. The plan failed, and the inquisitors used divine magic to sprout wings and fly to the Tormodrome for inquisition. Leander and Nel attempted to escape by jumping into the river Torm, around the same time Lantis was emerging from the sewers (which had been briefly lit on fire by inquisitors), but Nel was captured anyway. Leander caught up to them at the Tormodrome while Lantis went looking for a bath house to wash the stench of sewage off his body. The High Inquisitor of Torm, Djaska, was already in the process of stacking up evidence against Tahl and Nel in an extremely one-sided trial. Somebody identified Leander among the crowd, and he too was brought to the floor of the Tormodrome. Soon, Torm IV himself came to watch the proceedings. It seemed all was lost until Leander drove his own sword through his gut, dying in front of everyone and being reborn as a being of light, resembling an angel of vengeance. Leander killed Djaska and Torm IV, and then swept over Tormsmen gathered in the Tormodrome, killing them by the dozens while they tried in vain to stop his spirit. Tahl and Nel fled in the chaos, while elsewhere, the inquisitor Lantis had disfigured caught up to him in the bathhouse and tried to kill him. Lantis escaped, but with his face savagely burned -- he then found a characteristic copper mask on the bodies of one of the inquisitors killed on the bridge, donning it from then on. Category:Plot of Genesis